After the December 1 anti-war demo in Turkey

On December 1, 20,000 people took part in an anti-war demo in Istanbul.
Although there was a lively and angry mood on some sections of the demo
the turnout was rather low compared to previous demonstrations. The
trade unions did not help as, although they were officially part of the
promoting group, they did very little to mobilise their forces. This,
in spite of the fact that an overwhelming majority of 80-90 percent of
the population is against the war.

The No to war in Iraq demo that was called by a Co-ordinating
Committee made up of about 150 different organisations, including trade-unions,
political parties, democratic mass organisations and various political journals
and papers, was held on December 1 in Istanbul. Around 20,000 people turned up.
This turnout was low for a country that faces the threat of war right next door
across the border. That this number was very low becomes evident when we take
into consideration that an overwhelming majority of 80-90 percent of the
population is against the war according to the opinion polls and that 100,000
turned up for the May Day demo.

The trade unions were almost absent from the demo although the Organising
Committee had been formed by the Labour Platform - a broad joint platform of
nearly all the trade unions in Turkey. Having adopted an attitude of tokenism
from the very start, the union leaders did no practical work
to assure a good turnout. The most significant trade union presence from those
unions affiliated to the biggest union confederation, Türk-İş, was
the Tez-Koop-İş union with its lively, well-organised and disciplined
200-strong contingent. While the Petrol-İş (Petro-chemical workers'
union) took part with 100 workers, the remaining three or four unions turned up
with at most 30-strong contingents. Whereas the other unions like
Yol-İş, Tes-İş and Tümtis, that had made up a large part of
the columns of the Confederation on the previous demos where Türk-İş
took part, were absent this time. The attendance of the other labour
confederation, DİSK, which claims to have a more radical stance within the
union movement, was also limited to a few tiny contingents, except for a
150-strong contingent of Genel-İş (General workers' union). And the
third confederation, Hak-İş, turned up with only 40 people marching
behind the single banner of Hak-İş.

The highest turnout among the KESK (Confederation of Public Employees' Unions)
unions was from Eğitim-Sen (the union of education employees). Although the
members of Eğitim-Sen who turned up from various branches and neighbouring
towns amounted to a 1000-strong column, their presence was marked by a lack of
preparation, discipline or enthusiasm. The attendance of SES (health
workers' union) was very low. And the professional associations like the
Association of Architects and Engineers and the Association of Physicians were
represented only by 200 people in total.

While this was the case in relation to the numbers that turned out from the
unions, the attendance of political parties and organisations was also well
below what they had achieved in the previous May Day demo. The total attendance
from all the left parties was hardly 10,000. The large part of the rest of the
demo was gathered behind the banners of the various political journals and
papers. The great majority of the demonstrators were those who marched into the
square from the Perpa side. Although the numbers were less than what they should
have been, the youth that were the overwhelming majority of those on the march
brought their enthusiasm to the demo.

One of the prominent themes of the demo was "far away from them, but
close to us" [Note: the word for "far away" in Turkish is the
same word as the name of Iraq, which is "Irak"]. It is true that the
imperialist powers, above all US imperialism, who have an interest in launching
a war in Iraq are seeking, without in any way jeopardising their own lives, to
make the workers and toilers cut each other's throats.

While this vital menace of an imperialist war is threatening the workers,
toilers and young people of many different countries in general, it is a more
burning threat to Turkey which borders with Iraq. In spite of this, it seems
that the workers and youth who take part in the protest demos in the countries
which are "far away" are actually "closer" to understanding
the real reasons for this war and are drawing lessons from it, sharing the
suffering of Iraqi people and showing solidarity.

We must analyse the reasons for why the Turkish working class and youth have
reacted like this, while in all the advanced countries, from the USA to Europe,
the working class and youth have organised protest demos with numbers bordering
the millions. During the period of 1963-1980 the Turkish working class was seen
as exemplary in terms of its struggles, discipline, organisation and sacrifice
by the rest of the working class of the world. But since then it has been
substantially thrown back, thrown into disarray, disorganised and, most
importantly of all, demoralised due to the September 12 military dictatorship
and the subsequent long period of repression.

The working class movement does not manifest its revolutionary activity in a
smooth linear and constantly rising tempo. It also needs a certain period of
"rest" and a gathering of its strength, especially after long and
unsuccessful periods of rising struggles. The negative factor created by the
lack of a strong revolutionary organisation capable of providing leadership to
the working class movement in Turkey should also be added to this objective
plight of Turkish working class.

As long as it is deprived of such a revolutionary leadership, we will
continue to see both the lamentable situation of the trade union movement and
the fact that the dynamism of the youth is not shaped by the creative discipline
of the class struggle. Today's experience demonstrates once again that the
working class is either "organised and everything", or
"disorganised and nothing". The task of changing the present situation
falls on the shoulders of internationalist communists who will have organise it.